


Of Blood and Fire

by slowburn0117



Series: Of Fire and Ice [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-09-26 14:54:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9907538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowburn0117/pseuds/slowburn0117
Summary: Daenerys Targaryen stood on the bow of her lead ship, her armada behind her, the Narrow Sea underneath her and Westeros ahead. So many thoughts cross her mind as the sea laps against the under side of her ship. Her sun and stars and their lost child. Her brother. Her father. Her kingdom in Essos and her birthright in Westeros. She didn't know what the future held. But she did know the rumors, thanks to Lord Varys. Her Master of Whispers, not that she was fond of the title. Not one but two Targaryen's alive in Westeros. Both her nephews, both half Targaryen. One King in the North, the other with his own claim to the Iron Throne.But would they be able to come together to reunite the war torn country or would the madness of their lineage consume them all?Part two of the 'Of Fire and Ice' series~Part One: Of Blood and Snow~





	1. Prologue

Prologue

Daenerys looked at the three smug bastards before her. The Masters, as they like to call themselves. Funders of the Sons of the Harpy and instigators of this little uprising that was tearing Meereen apart. She wasn't the naïve child anymore, nor the hopeful princess. No. She was a Queen, the Mother of Dragons, and Khalessi of the Great Grass Sea. With a touch of madness Tyrion helped her to keep at bay. 

"We came here to negotiate," Tyrion was saying. "Not trade insults." It was enduring that he was insulted on her behalf. But not Daenerys. She could feel the steady strong beating of her heart. The whisper of power in her mind that linked her with Drogon. He power and fury seething through her but she kept her face calm, with a placid smile on her lips. 

"The terms are simple. You and your foreign friends will abandon the Great Pyramid and the city of Meereen. The Unsullied you stole from Kraznys mo Nakloz will remain to be sold again to the highest bidder. The translator you stole from Kraznys mo Nakloz will remain to be sold again to the highest bidder. The dragons beneath the Great Pyramid will be slaughtered." Daenerys felt her smile go entirely feral at the mention of killing her dragons. But they didn't notice as she called out to Drogon, who was flying near by. She felt him respond immediately, curving his giant wings toward them.

"We obviously didn't communicate clearly." Daenerys said and she saw Tyrion stiffen beside her. "We're here to discuss your surrender, not mine." The three men before her exchanged brief glances that spoke of how they could still not believe her arrogance. 

"I imagine it's difficult adjusting to the new reality." The one sneered at her. They never noticed the shadow that passed over them briefly. Daenerys pointing beside her, showing Drogon where she wished him to land. Tyrion looked up at the massive body as it swooped over them, circling back over the pyramid. 

"Your reign is over." He said and Daenyerys smiled in a cruel fashion that would have a more aware man shaking in his expensive silks. 

"My reign has just begun." She stated simply as the massive dragon landed next to her, roaring at them, his black and red scales glistening in the afternoon sun. All of the men stumbled backward as Drogon lowered his wing enough for his mistress to climb to his neck. She leather bound hands gripped his scales as she mentally encouraged him to fly. They took off over the still stunned Masters. Inside her mind she could feel her two other dragons underneath the Great Pyramid calling out to them. As she circled again, she saw as they burst from beneath, out of their cell. 

Drogon roared long and loud, an order to join them in the sky. Viserion, her pale desert colored dragon was first to take off. His scales not glistening like the black red of Drogon or the green yellow of Rhaegal. Each of the smaller dragons roared their approval and thanks for freedom. The two scooped in beside Daenerys, brushing against the long, thick neck of Drogon. Their Alpha and mistress. She felt their purring in her mind, as she felt the rumbling of Drogon. The four of them swooped over the led ship that bore the mark of the Slaver's. She felt fury boil in her blood. These fools dared to attack her city and tried to return her freed people into the bonds of slavery. She felt that fury boil over into her dragons. She focused on the lead ship, looking down at them with distain. 

"Dracarys." She ordered and Drogon opened him maw of razor teeth, a glow burning at the back of his throat, fire spitting forth. Viserion and Rhaegal followed, the flames of the three crashing into the ship, splintering the mast. The flames crashed through the ship and the men screamed as they were burned alive. The other ships stopped firing at the city and stared in wonder and no small amount of fear as Daenerys and her three dragons flew out over the fleet of ships.

"Thank you for the armada." Tyrion said as the three mens guards were quickly disarmed by Daenerys' Unsullied. "Our queen does love ships." He stepped forward with Grey Worm closely beside him. 

"Now, last time we spoke, we made a pact. You violated that pact." Tyrion motioned to the destruction of Meereen, the distant screams of injured and dying behind them. "You declared war upon us. Though our queen does have a forgiving nature, this cannot be forgiven." Tyrion heard the Dothraki screamers coming around the the front gates of the city, where the Son's of the Harpy were massacring the freed people. 

"Our queen insists that one of you must die as punishment for your crimes." Tyrion watched as the shock crossed their faces. "It always seems a bit abstract, doesn't it, other people dying?" The screams of death still renting the air. 

"Him. He should die." They shoved the man who had been speaking on their behalf forward.

"Yes, him." The other agreed. 

"He's not one of us." They sneered at the man who was now on his knees before Tyrion and Grey Worm, shocked speachless. "He's an outsider, a lowborn. He does not speak for us." 

"Please. Please." He began to beg as Grey Worm moved forward with purposeful strides. He stopped before the man on the ground, his eyes cold as the man looked up at him. In a lightening quick movement, his sword flashed up and the two Masters' bodies fell to the hard stone of the temple steps. The man let out the breath he had been holding, looking behind himself, stunned as the blood from the severed heads leaked hot blood on the boiling stone. 

"Tell your people what happened here. Tell them you live by the grace of Her Majesty." Tyrion placed a hand on the man's shaking shoulder. "When they come forward with notions of retribution or ideas about returning the slave cities to their former glory, remind them what happened when Daenerys Stormborn and her dragons came to Meereen." The man looked down at the puddle of his own urine and felt shame that he had spoken for men who would so willingly sacrifice him and any who were seen as lower. The dragons screeched in the background as Tyrion, Grey Worm and Missandei calmly move toward the edge of the temple to watch as their Queen flies over the now docile fleet of ships. 

***KING'S LANDING***  
Cersei carefully dressed herself in the black armored garb she had chosen for today. Carefully adoring each of her fingers in a jeweled ring. A jeweled clip that attached at her shoulder and circles it. She carefully poured herself a goblet of wine. She sipped daintily from the Lannister gold cup as she walks on steady feet to the balcony looking out toward the Sept. She wonders briefly if the bitch of a daughter-in-law had figured it out by now. She smiles softly against the cup as she wonders what thoughts are going to go through Margaery's pretty head in her last moments. 

The explosion is quite sudden, as a massive green flames engulf the Sept and the surrounding ten blocks in King's Landing. The screams of alarm and pain are music to Cersei's ears. Voices that had jeered at her, mouths that had spit foul things at her, hands that had thrown things at her and sharp things under her feet, all while she completed her walk of shame from the Sept to the front door of the Red Keep. 

She smiled into her goblet of wine as she thought of all of them burning in that green fire that had just reduced the Sept to nothing but a burning crater in the stone floor. The breeze from the blast caressed her cheek like a lover's hand should. And she briefly thought of her sweet brother Jaime. He would be nearing King's Landing by now, from whatever journey had taken him away from her. Her hand found her empty womb as she thought of the loss of her two beloved children. And a mourning crawled up into her heart. She turned from the screams and the green flames that feasted on flesh to pour herself another goblet of wine. She had someone to talk to, to confess to. 

***  
Tommen looked out over the destruction of the Sept, depression crawling around inside of his heart as he sent one of his guards to find his beloved Queen. Hoping against all hope that she had found a way out before the blast leveled the Sept that she had been in. He knew that if she was gone, he would join her. So he sat in his chambers, tears leaking down his face as he waited for word. 

***THE NARROW SEA***  
Yara stood on the bow of her ship, in the lead of 100 Iron Born ships, with more men to sail them. Her brother at her side as the ruin of the gates of Slaver's Bay came into view. 

"What are we going to say to her?" Theon asked his sister. He watched as she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose. 

"We are going to make her an offer, brother." She said simply, she turned to look at the 100 ships she had to offer. It was a good deal, Yara thought. But the Targaryen's were known for their madness. Seeing the destruction of Meereen, Yara was not sure what the Dragon Queen would think of their offer. Nor the conditions she would impose. All Yara knew was the betrayal the burned in her heart and the fury that deserved to be unleashed.


	2. Of the Iron Born and Queens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to be clear, I own nothing in the GoT verse. I simply have how I would like things to go. 
> 
> For my dear readers, yes I am back with Daenerys' side of the story. I have decided to make this a series. Some long stories, some shorter ones to come. The first few chapters will be a sort of recap of how last season ended, with a few additional scenes. I hope you enjoy and are ready for this wild ride!
> 
> Questions, comments always welcome!

Chapter 1 

Daenerys sat tall and regal as she looked over the two visitors that had come with 100 ships into Meereen. They were ... dirty. Daenerys decided. Like street urchins, only they were armed. But Tyrion was familiar with the man, at least. Though he was not pleased to see the man, who could barely look up at them without flinching. As a dog whose owner beat it would act. But the woman, she stood tall and proud. Her dirty blonde hair pull harshly away from her face. A placid look that didn't match the fire in her eyes. She hands rated easily over her stomach but Daenerys didn't miss that her hand was resting on hilt of her sword. Grey Worm was uneasy about the woman but Daenerys agreed to the meeting. She needed ships after all. 

"The last time we saw each other was at Winterfell, yes? You were making jokes about my height, I seem to recall." Tyrion mused, but here was fury behind his voice. "Everyone who makes a joke about a dwarf's height thinks he's the only person ever to make a joke about a dwarf's height. "The height of nobility," "a man of your stature," "someone to look up to." You're all making the same five or six jokes." Daenerys smiled softly at the man she had begun to rely on for a wisdom she knew she did not possess. Theon looked ashamed, at least. Daenerys thought regarding the whipped dog appearance of his. 

"It was a long time ago." Theon said softly, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. 

"It was." Tyrion conceded. "And how have things been going for you since then?" When Theon looked away, Tyrion almost felt bad for the boy who had wanted so badly to be a man. But had no idea what a man truly was at the time. 

"Not so well, I gather. Can't imagine you would have murdered the Stark boys if things had been going well." It was some of he last whispers he had heard from the North before he had run from Westeros for his life, blood on his hands.

"I didn't murder the Stark boys." It was the first authority Daenerys had heard from the man. She tilted her head to the side slightly. "But I did things that were just as bad or worse." Theon admitted, swallowing thickly

"And he paid for them." Yara stated firmly, her voice rough and husky. She hand tensing on the hilt of her sword. Daenerys decided then that this Yara was the oldest of the two. 

"Doesn't seem like it. He's still alive." Tyrion said with more chill in his voice than she had ever heard. 

"There are worse things than death," Theon whispered almost too softly for Daenerys to catch. The frown that played across Yara's face made Daenerys want to ask what was worse. 

"It was complicated for you, I'm sure, growing up at Winterfell." Tyrion continued as if he hadn't heard. "Never quite knowing who you were. Iron born or wolf pup. But then, we all live complicated lives, don't we?" Tyrion mused more about his own life and the wild turns it had taken. After all, he had never thought he would be an advisor to a Queen, let alone a Targaryen. His family had so wronged hers but she had forgiven him. After all her father had wronged Westeros terribly. 

"You've brought us 100 ships from the Iron Fleet with men to sail them." Daenerys finally spoke, her voice calm and her hands folded in her lap. Ever the regal looking Queen. "In return, I expect you want me to support your claim to the throne of the Iron Islands?" She focused on Theon. After all thrones were usually passed from father to son. 

"Not my claim. Hers." Theon nodded to Yara, who simply took a deep breath. Daenerys frowned at Theon. 

"And what's wrong with you?" Daenerys asked, in part hoping that he would explain what had happened to him and at whose hands. She watched him swallow hard before meeting her eyes. 

"I'm not fit to rule." Theon stated as if it were a well known fact. 

"We can agree upon that at least." Tyrion murmured from beside her. 

"Has the Iron Islands ever had a queen before?" Daenerys asked, turning her eyes to Yara. Who smirked at her.

"No more than Westeros." Yara wisely retorted. Daenerys snorted in amusement, she could get use to this salty woman. 

"Our Uncle Euron returned home after a long absence." Theon began to explain. "He murdered our father and took the Salt Throne from Yara. He would have murdered us if we'd stayed." And suddenly the fire in Yara's eyes made more sense. It was anger not at the world but rather its injustices. Daenerys felt the same fury in her own heart. But she still needed to be sure of which allies she made. To give someone your back to put a blade in was usually the undoing of many rulers.

"Lord Tyrion tells me your father was a terrible king." Daenerys challenged but Yara was unfazed. She simply shrugged her broad shoulders.

"You and I have that in common." She countered. Daenerys smiled at Yara, for it was the truth. 

"We do. And both murdered by a usurper as well." She admitted, thinking more of the siblings as time passed. "Will their ships be enough?" Daenerys asked Tyrion, looking at him. He made a show of scratching his beard in thought. 

"With the former Masters' fleet, possibly. Barely." Tyrion supplied softly to her. He frowned then and looked at the Iron Born siblings. "There are more than 100 ships in the Iron Fleet." Stated Tyrion, though he was not entirely sure. 

"There are and Euron is building more." Theon supplied. "He's going to offer them to you." He confessed. 

"So why shouldn't I wait for him?" Daenerys inquired. 

"The Iron Fleet isn't all he's bringing. He also wants to give you--" Theon started.

"His big cock, I think he said." Yara finished, looking at Daenerys. She barely bit back her laughter, glancing over at Tyrion. Who simply shook his head. 

"Euron's offer is also an offer of marriage, you see." Theon continued, glancing at his sister. "You won't get one without the other." Daenerys glanced back at Tyrion, whose face said everything he didn't about his thoughts on that offer. 

"And I imagine your offer is free of any marriage demands?" Daenerys mused, turning her smiling face toward Yara. 

"I never demand, but I'm up for anything, really." Yara replied and Daenerys couldn't bite back the chuckle that time as the young salt Queen looked at her with a challenge in her eyes. 

"He murdered our father and would have murdered us." Theon intuepted their amused challenge. "He'll murder you as soon as you have what he wants."

"The Seven Kingdoms." Tyrion guessed.

"All of them." Theon confirmed. 

"And you do not want the Seven Kingdoms?" Daenerys asked, looking between the two siblings. 

"Your ancestors defeated ours and took the Iron Islands." Thoen started. "We ask you to give them back." 

"And that's all?" Daenerys couldn't keep the amusement from her voice. 

"We'd like you to help us murder an uncle or two who don't think a woman's fit to rule." Yara added and Daenerys was sure she could like the woman.

"Reasonable." Daenerys murmured.

"What if everyone starts demanding their independence?" Tyrion turned to her, knowing his family had caused a huge rift in the seven kingdoms. 

"She's not demanding, she's asking." Daenerys stated, gesturing to the two. "The others are free to ask as well." But Daenerys would address those issues when she sat on the Iron Throne. She turned back to the siblings. She slowly stood, straightening her dress. 

"Our fathers were evil men, all of us here." She motioned to herself and Tyrion, then to the siblings. "They left the world worse than they found it. We're not going to do that." She stated with such conviction that Yara could almost believe it. 

"We're going to leave the world better than we found it." Daenerys began to slowly descend the steps. "You will support my claim as queen of the Seven Kingdoms and respect the integrity of the Seven Kingdoms. No more reaving, roving, raiding, or raping." She came face to face with Yara, who had begun to frown as Daenerys listed her requirements. 

"That's our way of life." Yara stated, unsure if they could change.

"No more." Daenerys insisted and looked up into the blue eye of Yara. Looking at her, Daenerys could see there was a beauty to the Salt Queen. Daenerys' mind was turning. There was still a way to unite the Seven Kingdoms, with several rulers. Queen on the Iron Throne, Queen of the Iron Island, and King in the North. Pieces of the puzzle that would come together eventually. She waited as the thoughts churned through Yara's mind. Her blue eyes finally meet Daenerys lilac ones. 

"No more." Yara confirmed, holding out her hand. Daenerys looked down, a little confused and turned to Tyrion. Who was smiling softly, it mostly hidden by his beard as his eyes glistened. Daenerys wrapped her hand around the young Queen's surprisingly muscular forearm. Yara's strong fingers closed aroyund Daenerys' soft skin. Their pact was made and the two Queens looked at each other as equals. 

***KING'S LANDING***  
"Confess." Cersei entoned the awful word she had heard everyday during her beatings and abuse. "Confess." She entoned again, pouring more wine over the wretched woman's face. The woman simply sputtered and coughed,gagging on the wine. 

"No." Cersei grabbed her woman's jaw, forcing her face under the stream of wine. The woman strained against the chains that held her to the stone table. "Confess. Confess that it felt good ... Beating me, starving me, frightening me, humiliating me." She relented on the wine, drinking some as she walked around the table. Her hand touching her soft hair that was barely two inches long.

"You didn't do it because you cared about my atonement." She fingers gently caressed the woman's arm as she walked around to her head. Cersei leaned down to whisper into the woman's ear. "You did it because it felt good ... I understand." Her voice was a husky whisper as she stood up and poured herself some more wine. 

"I do things because they feel good. I drink because it feels good." Cersei took a healthy sip from her goblet. "I killed my husband because it felt good to be rid of him." She continued walking around the table, her fingers drawing gently down the woman's arm.

"I fuck my brother because it feels good to feel him inside me." Her fingers moved up the woman's trembling thigh. "I lie about fucking my brother... because it feels good to keep our son safe from hateful hypocrites." She continued up the woman's thigh and over her flat stomach. 

"I killed your High Sparrow... and all his little sparrows... all his septons, all his septas, all his filthy soldiers, because it felt good to watch them burn." Cersei's finger traced around the woman's breast that was heaving in fury or fear, she didn't know. "It felt good to imagine their shock and their pain. No thought has ever given me greater joy." Cersei chuckled to herself as she lightly slapped the woman's cheek. 

"Even confessing feels good under the right circumstances." There was an irony to all this, Cersei saw that now. Confessing all her sins to the woman ago tried to beat them out of her. "You've always been quiet." Cersei looked down at the clenched jaw of the Septa. 

"I said my face would be the last thing you saw before you died. Do you remember?" The woman's eyes blazed at Cersei. Fury, not fear. Cersei decided. Not yet. 

"Good. I'm glad to see your face. I'm ready to meet the gods." The Septa spat. So she did speak. 

"What? Now? Today?" Cersei let out a full bellied laugh then. "You're not going to die today. You're not going to die for quite a while." And the confusion that crossed the Septa's face was nearly orgasmic to Cersei "Ser Gregor." She cooed sweetly and a figure emerged from the shadows that the Septa had not noticed before. The Septa took in the sheer size of the man and felt her heart stutter in fear.

"This is Ser Gregor Clegane." Cersei patted the shoulder of the knight, who had still not removed his helmet. "He's quiet, too." She mused, looking up at her knight, her protector, her avenger. She leaned down to the woman's ear.

"Your gods have forsaken you." She whispered to the Septa as Ser Clegane removed his helmet. The Septa couldn't stop the thrill of fear that ran through her body as she looked upon the hediousness that was once Ser Gregor Clegane, for there was no way he could be called a man now. "This is your god now." Cersei turned to leave as Clegane stepped closer to the table.

"No." The Septa whispered as Clegane set his helmet beside her head. "No!" She said louder as he reached for her breasts.

"Shame." Cersei entoned the word the Septa had chanted from behind her as she had completed her walk of shame. The sound as the Septa beginning to sob was sweet music to Cersei's ears. "Shame." She said again, stepping outside the room as Clegane leaned down over the Septa, his rough hands gripping the woman's dress. Cersei closed the door as the Septa began to scream and Cersei could easily hear the tearing of fabric. 

"Shame." She said as the screams grew louder, more animalistic around the sounds of armor hitting the floor. Cersei smiled as she ascended the steps from the dungeon, the last sound she heard was a terrible scream as she heard Clegane let out a feral grunt. No doubt shoving himself deep into the Septa's virgin twat and the screams mixed with sobs in a most melodious fashion to Cersei. 

She would have loved to stay and watch as Clegane violated the Sept in every way his perverse mind wanted. Later, Cersei thought to herself. She would return later with a pitcher of wine and goblet to watch as Clegane had his way with the Septa's unused body. Cersei wanted the Septa to see her face as she was taken by the animal that remained after Qyburn had done his ... experiments. But for the moment she had a son to console and a kingdom to rebuild.

***  
Tommen stood, looking out over the destruction of his kingdom. His guards standing at his back. He had known when the explosion had ripped into the sept and city, that his beloved Queen had parished. Her beauty, grace, and calm never to light up his dark life again. 

"I am sorry, My King." Said his guard again. "We found nothing of anyone who had been present at the Sept. Nor in the surrounding streets. Not even charred remains." The guard thought he was being helpful. As if to tell Tommen that his beloved and his people had not suffered. But he had heard the screams. They rang in his skull even now. He turned to his guards. 

"Thank you." He said, as if the simple phrase could cover his gratitude of the man's support over these past few months. "Go see to my mother. She is surely distraught." Neither mentioned that she was behind these deaths, the hundreds if not thousands murdered. His knight nodded and left, closing the door behind him with a soft click. Tommen had no idea if his knight knew what he was going to do but he was thankful the knight made no move to stop him. He took off his crown and placed it on the table. Stag antlers of his father's house. A house he was the last legitimate heir too. And the Lannister House. Such weight to bear. He took the steps up to his window and without hesitation, he let that weight care him to the ground outside the high window of the Red Keep. He didn't hear the started screams of the people who saw him land.

***OUTSIDE KING'S LANDING***  
Jaime and his small troop planned to stop atop the hills over looking King's Landing. His gut rolled at the thought of returning, after all he had been through, he was a changed man. He could no longer stomach the sight of his once sweet sister, who was slowly descending into the madness he had killed his King for. He could not stand to look at young, sweet Tommen who was nothing more than a puppet to the High Sparrow. He and his had retaken the Riverlands for Walder Fray only to have word on the road that a small Northern Force, lead by this mysterious Lady of the North, take it back and secure it completely. Even the Vale had abandon the crown in favor of the North and Jon Targaryen Stark. Who was going to be their King soon enough. And to make things worse, there was a rumor that 100 Iron Born ships had left the Islands and were headed East. To Daenerys Targaryen, no doubt. Who would then come to Westeros to seek vengeance or her birthright. Only time would tell. 

Jaime felt like there was a noose around his neck and it was slowly tightening. If he were being honest, he was just plain tired. Tired of the responsibility of being in the King's guard, of being a Lannister, tired of the whole bloody war that his awful son had started the moment he had taken Ned Stark's head for speaking the truth. But when Bronn stopped his horse and simply stared in the direction of King's Landing, Jaime was harshly ripped from his own dark musings to see what had them all spooked. Nothing could have prepared Jaime for what he saw. Green flames and a crator where the Sept should have been. 

"By all the gods." Jaime whispered and it felt like the bottom had fallen out of his world. Surely Cersei could not have done such a thing with the Wildfire stores he had told her of all those years ago. It was only pillow talk as she had forgiven him for killing the last Targaryen king. He spurred his horse into a gallop, his troops hot behind him. He had to see if there was anyone left to help. Someone left to protect.


	3. Of Agreements and Endings

Chapter II

***HIGHGARDEN***  
Elinor Tyrell sat in the plush but wilting landscape of Highgarden, a small blonde hair child sleeping in her arms. No one but herself and Olenna Tyrell knew the identity of the child. A young girl who was barely 6 moons. Right before the Faith Militant took over King's Landing, Elinor was given the child to raise as her own and fled the capital. A golden blonde haired child with sharp green eyes. A beautiful child, an heiress. 

Now they sat together, watching Olenna Tyrell as she read the raven again. The great Sept had been blown up, with Mace, Margaery, and Loras inside. Along with countless others. Olenna wasn't sure if it was fury that caused her hands to shake or the fact that nearly all she had loved so dearly in this world was now dead. Blown to the Gods by Cersei and her insanity. It was in those gardens that Olenna received another raven. An invitation that made Elinor very uneasy. An invitation that out of Olenna's desire for vengeance and a death wish, she accepted. Elinor cradled the young princess closer as Olenna left, unsure if she would return.

***DORNE***  
Olenna, clad in black out of mourning for her lost children and grandchildren sat across from the dark skinned beauties, all with dark curling hair and brown eyes. The Sand Snakes, they called themselves. Bastards, all of them. Even their mother and leader, Ellaria Sand, was a bastard. But here is Dorne, the stigma was not attached to being a bastard. Hence why Ellaria was now sitting in front of Olenna, the ruler of Dorne.

"The last time a Tyrell came to Dorne, he was assassinated." She carefully eyed the four women. "100 red scorpions, was it?" She remembered the old tale well. 

"You have nothing to fear from us, Lady Olenna." Ellaria said in what was meant to be a soothing voice. Olenna snorted.

"You murder your own prince, but you expect me to trust you?" She spat. 

"We invited you to Dorne because we needed your help. You came to Dorne because you needed our help." Said one of the snakes as she stood with her hands clasped tightly in front of her. Barely leashed fury written all over her features.

"What is your name again? Barbaro?" Olenna snipped. The snake beside her chuckled.

"Obara." The first snake supplied. 

"Obara. You look like an angry little boy." Olenna snapped. "Don't presume to tell me what I need."

"Forgive my sister." said the second snake. "What she lacks in diplomacy, she makes--"

"Do shut up, dear." Olenna waved a withered hand at them both. "Anything from you? No? Good." She focused her venom on the third snake.

"Let the grown women speak." Olenna focused her harsh gaze on Ellaria, who simply smiled coldly and took a breath while her daughters crossed their arms. 

"The Lannisters have declared war on House Tyrell. They have declared war on Dorne." Olenna didn't seem surprised by either statement. "We must be allies now if we wish to survive." Olenna paused then, her old hand rubbing along her chin, as if in thought. But the tears gathering in her eyes said it all.

"Cersei stole the future from me." She finally said. Her voice harsh and filled with fury. "She killed my son .... She killed my grandson .... She killed my granddaughter .... Survival is not what I'm after now." Olenna was gazing off into the distance. Ellaria smiled then, a smile that would have been sympathy on anyone else's face. 

"You're absolutely right." She confessed. "I chose the wrong words. It is not survival I offer. It is your heart's desire." Ellaria made a flourish of ringing the small silver bell that sat on her chair. Olenna snorted at the younger woman.

"And what is my heart's desire?" Olenna challenged. 

"Vengeance. Justice." Ellaria stated as if it were fact. The sound of approaching foots steps drew Olenna's attention. The bald, round figure that materialized held his arms folded neatly infront of his chest, just over his belly. Just like he always had. But his appearance seemed to startled Olenna more than she would have admitted.

"Fire and blood." He said simply, looking Olenna directly in the eyes and in a moment, everything clicked into place. And for the first time since she had received the raven from King's Landing, she smiled.

***MEEREEN***  
The wine tasted overly sweet in her mouth but Daenerys swallowed the mouth full as Daario walked into her chambers. He was dressed in his armor and looked handsome as ever. Daenerys swallowed some more wine to rid herself of the bitter taste of what she had to do. 

"Your ships are nearly ready." He began. "I saw them painting the sails. I'm curious to see how the Dothraki do on the poison water." He poured himself a cup of wine.

"You're not coming with us." She said. He didn't seem phased, he took a sip of his wine and walked closer to her. 

"New strategy?" He asked with a gleam in his eye. He loved the battle and tactics. "You want the Second Sons to attack from the west coast? If we take Casterly Rock, the Lannisters will have nowhere to run when you hit King's Landing." It wasn't a bad idea but it wasn't what she meant. Daenerys took a breath in. 

"You're not going to Westeros." She stated firmly, he stared at her from over he rim of his cup. "You're staying here with the Second Sons." Daario blinked like he wasn't quite sure what she had said. 

"There's finally peace in Meereen." She said softly, imploring him to understand. "You will keep the peace while the people choose their own leaders."

"Fuck Meereen." He spat, putting his cup down, though she had expected him to throw it. "Fuck the people. I'm here for you, not them." He knelt down in front of her. Daenerys smiled softly.

"You promised me. "My sword is yours. My life is yours." This is what I command." She said with conviction. "If I'm going to rule in Westeros, I'll need to make alliances. The best way to make alliances is with marriage." Though she didn't really intended to marry anyone.

"Who are you marrying this time?" Daario looked dejected.

"I don't know." She responded honestly. "Maybe no one." She took a daintier sip of wine.

"But you need to lure all the noble houses to the table?" He asked. "Are you a queen or fish bait?" She couldn't help the small smile on her lips, he always had a mouth on him. 

"I can't bring a lover to Westeros." She pushed. Daario frowned, moving closer to her. 

"A king wouldn't think twice about it." He pointed out. Daenerys really smiled than, at the thought in her mind. 

"So that's what you want?" She teased. "To be my mistress?" 

"I'm not proud." He admitted, but he did have his pride, Daenerys knew it. "I don't care what perfumed aristocrat sits beside you in the throne room. I don't want a crown." He took her free hand in between his, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand.

"I want you." He said, looking deeply into her lilac eyes. "I love you... And I make you happy...." Daenyers smiled sadly because she knew it was the expression he needed to see from her.

"You know I do. Bring me with you." His voice was soft and pleading. "Let me fight for you." Daenerys moved her free hand up to his bearded cheek and gently placed her hand there. His beard was rough against her palm and he looked so hopeful. 

"I can't." She said, pulling her hand back slowly. He pulled back and stood abruptly.

"The dwarf told you to do this?" He challenged. Daenerys narrowed her eyes on him.

"No one tells me to do anything." She stated firmly. 

"Clever fellow. Can't argue with his logic." Daario admitted. "I'm no use to you over there." 

"Don't get angry." Daenerys requested. 

"I'm not angry." He said and she believed him. He didn't look angry. "I'm full of self-pity ... Who comes after you? Who can ever follow Daenerys Stormborn, the Mother of Dragons?" He looks down at her, her cup still in one hand with forgotten wine looking up at him from her seat.

"A great number of women, I imagine." She smiled at him encouragingly. "Specific orders will be left for you regarding the welfare of Meereen and the Bay of Dragons." She finally put her glass down and stood. 

"Bay of Dragons?" Daario asked and Daenerys smiled coyly.

"Well, we can't call it Slaver's Bay anymore, can we?" She retorted. Daario simply nodded his understand. 

"You'll get that throne you want so badly, I'm sure of it." Daario kissed her hand. "I hope it brings you happiness." He drained his glass of wine and headed for the door. But he paused and looked over at her.

"I pity the Lords of Westeros." He claimed. "They have no idea what's coming for them" And Daenerys smiled truly at him. He was right. 

"Farewell, Daario Naharis." She said softly as he left the room. For a moment she stood in silence, trying to feel hurt or heart break she knew she should feel. But nothing came and for that moment Daenerys felt a thrill of fear. She went to her throne room, in search of Tyrion, for she had something very important to say to him. 

***  
Tyrion sat in the throne room, a jug of wine beside him and a glass forgotten in his hands. He was lost to his own thoughts. He was remembering his talk with Varys before he set sail to Dorne with an idea in his head. 

"How do you know this expedition and scheme of yours will work?" Tyrion asked Varys as they walked in the streets of Meereen. Varys took a deep breath in.

"If you dont hear from me, we will know it didn't work." He paused at looked at Tyrion, a man he had grown fond of. "We need friends in Westeros and our Queen needs more ships." Varys placed his hand on Tyrion's shoulder. 

"I will miss you." Tyrion admitted. Varys had been his only companion for a long time. Varys smiled down at Tyrion in what could be called an affectionate way.

Tyrion held the letter in his hand when Daenerys emerged from behind her throne. He looked up at her. She stood tall and regal, ever the picture of royality. The sun shining in her pale hair, her skin aglow underneath her black gown. 

"How did he take it?" Tyrion asked as she descended the dias.

"No tears." Daenerys responded. 

"I know it was hard for you." Tyrion said, looking down at the wine in his hands."You turned away a man who truly loves you because he would have been a liability in the Seven Kingdoms. That's the kind of self-sacrifice that makes for a good ruler, if it's any consolation." He watched her descend with grace and come to sit beside him. She let out a sigh as she sat next to him. 

"It's not." She admitted. 

"No, I suppose not." Tyrion looked sideways at her, noting the small smile on her lips. "I'm terrible at consoling." He admitted. 

"Yes, you really are." She said with no sting and all amusement. 

"All right, how about the fact that this is actually happening?" He questioned, she looked at him. "You have your armies, you have your ships, you have your dragons. Everything you've ever wanted since you were old enough to want anything, it's all yours for the taking... Are you afraid?" Daenerys swallowed thickly and gave a single nod of her head. 

"Good." Tyrion stated and Daenerys looked at him. "You're in the great game now. And the great game's terrifying. The only people who aren't afraid of failure are madmen like your father." Daenerys smiled with no humor.

"Do you know what frightens me?" It was Tyrion's turn to shake his head. "I said farewell to a man who loves me. A man I thought I cared for. And I felt nothing... Just impatient to get on with it." 

"He wasn't the first to love you and he won't be the last." Tyrion looked deeply into her eyes and could easily see how a man would love her with no thought of himself. 

"Well, you have completely failed to console me." Daenerys stood and faced him. 

"For what it's worth, I've been a cynic for as long as I can remember." He began. "Everyone's always asking me to believe in things-- family, gods, kings, myself. It was often tempting until I saw where belief got people. So I said no, thank you to belief. And yet here I am..." Daenerys half smiled at him.

"I believe in you. It's embarrassing, really. I'd swear you my sword, but I don't actually own a sword." He stood and was face to face with her.

"It's your counsel I need." Daenerys admitted. 

"It's yours. Now and always." Tyrion looked at her, his faith and belief in her shining in his eyes. 

"Good. I, um..." Daenerys seemed unsure of herself for the first time. "I had something made for you. I'm not sure if it's right." She pulled out a bronze brooch and looked down at it. She reached out a pushed he pin through the breast of his vest. The symbol was well known in Westeros. An encircled hand holding a blade. 

"Tyrion Lannister, I name you Hand of the Queen."


	4. Of Burials and Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh ... I have returned! Apologies, dear readers. School cramped my writing, well writing for fun. But I am back with many ideas. Enjoy this latest chapter! Questions, comments, constructive criticism always welcome!

Chapter III  
***KING'S LANDING***

"Show me." Cersei's voice was harsh as it bounced of the wall of the empty room. The guard paled visibly. 

"Your Grace, there's no need--" He begin but the cold look Cersei gave him cause whatever words were next to lodge in his throat. 

"Show me." She said softer and for some reason it sent chills racing over the flesh of the guards. Cersei looked over he body of youngest child. The only one she had left, or so she had thought. She should have had the guards keep a better eye on him. After all she knew how fragile and gentle her Tommen is .... had been. She mentally corrected herself. To gentle to wear the crown and carry the weight of ruling. That was supposed to be Joffery. Cersei felt her blood beginning to boil with rage. All three of her beautiful children, gone. Joffery assassinated on his wedding day by her cursed brother and his bitch, Sansa Stark. Myrcella murdered by the bitch snake of Dorne, sent there by her cursed brother. If Cersei had been allowed to keep her beautiful daughter safe from the little troll's grubby hands .... Cersei cursed her father, who had also been killed by the little bastard. Finally Tommen. Her poor, gentle Tommen. Fell from the King's tower. 

"What are your thoughts concerning the king's funeral?" Qyburn slithered from the shadows like the viper Cersei knew him to be. Though he was her new Grand Maester, she would be sure to never turn her back to him in any sense. 

"As the Sept of Baelor is no longer an option, perhaps a ceremony in the throne room?" His nasally tone grated on Cersei's nerves, her earlier good mood completely destroyed. She doubted that watch the Septa get violated by the monstrosity of Clegane would relieve the darkness that was quickly taking hold of her shattered her heart. 

"He should be with his grandfather, his brother, and his sister." She said softly, taking his shattered hand in hers. "Burn him and bury his ashes where the sept once stood." She dropped his hand and turned quickly to find some relief. Surely Jaime would return soon. Perhaps he could help assuage some of her pain and fear. And she had a coronation to prepare for. 

***KING'S LANDING/SEPT OF BAELOR***

Jaime stood in the middle of the crater that had once been the glorious Sept. Burning remains scattered the streets and piles of ash still lapped with green flames. Jaime felt his stomach roll in disgust. The Wildfire stores had done this. He could see the green flames that still had something to fed on, burning. The smell of charred stone, burned skin, and hair hung heavy in the air. Death. Jaime decided. He had spent much of his life killing and defending but the stench that was working its way into his nostrils, was unlike anything he had smelt before. 

Bron looked down at Jaime from the crest of the crater. There were no words for any of the Lannister men as they stood around the lip of the crater. The looks of pure shock as they all surveyed the ten blocks of devastation. Jaime climbed to crest of the crater and just let his eyes wonder over the strewn bodies. It was then that they saw Qyburn walking calmly down the street, carrying a little container. An urn, Jaime was sure. But who was in it? For a moment, Jaime hoped it was Cersei but guilt was quick on the heels of that thought. What would he do if she were ... dead? As Qyburn got closer, Jaime could hear him humming a soft tune to himself. The small hairs all over Jaime's body rose. He had never like the Maester, well disgraced maester. But his sweet sister had employed him none the less. 

 

Qyburn seemed to sense that he was being watched. He looked up from his nice walk through the carnage that Cersei had wrought. He spotted the battalion of Lannister men with Ser Jaime at the forefront. Qyburn smiled his chilling smile, amused at the darkening of the Kingslayer's face. 

"Welcome home, Ser Jaime." Qyburn chimed as if Jaime and his men were not standing at the edge of a crater in the middle of King's Landing. Jaime stared at the man, a very dark expression settling on his face. Was this Maester insane?

"Qyburn," Jaime grated. "What the hell happened here?" Qyburn blinked at him owlishly. 

"The Queen settled her scores." He said it as if it were a commonly known fact. 

"Cersei did this?" Jaime whispered, that sick feeling settling deep in his stomach. Qyburn simply smiled, as if he were communicating with a child. 

"Of course." Qyburn confirmed Jaime's worst fear. He felt his stomach roll is revolusion. He had killed his last King for trying to do what Cersei had done. "I have come here to put the King to rest, as the Lady Queen requested." Jaime's mind rebelled. 

"Tommen?" Jaime felt like throwing up. 

"Yes, the beloved King fell from the tower." But there was something about the way he said it that made Jaime doubtful that was the full or even the true story. "The throne room is being prepare for the coronation as we speak." Jaime felt a shock akin to an electric bolt rush through his system. Qyburn smiled a smile that made Jaime's warrior instincts scream and the small hairs on his body stand up. 

"I am sure she will be pleased to hear of your return." Qyburn had gone on talking as he dig a small hole to place Tommen's ashes in. Qyburn seemed to be blissfully unaware of the sudden tension that hung over the entirety of Jaime's battalion. Jaime and his men watched in silence as Qyburn finished the hole and emptied Tommen's ashes into it. 

Jaime felt his heart squeeze. All of his children, though he could never claim them, were dead. All falling victim to the nefarious game. Jaime cursed the throne and all that came with it. Ever since loosing his hand and meeting a certain towering giant of a woman with sapphires for eyes and an unshakable sense of morality, he had never been the same. 

"A Knight, Ser Jaime," Her stare had been so intense that he could not look away. "A true knight either young or old, swears to protect any that are weaker than themselves." The conviction in that stare and in her voice had shaken him to his very core. 

"Or die in the attempt." Some how, some way, that wench's words and action had wormed their way into his heart. Changing him. Even now, the thought of seeing Cersei again made his stomach roll. If he had had food, he would have emptied his stomach. As Qyburn climbed out of the crater and walked back toward the Red Keep, Jaime and his men followed, not sure what else to do. There was a part of Jaime that wished to turn around and ride out into the Wilds. Better to face the wrath of the North than the growing insanity of his once sweet sister. But there had to be a better way. Jaime silently cursed to himself and longed to have a conversation with his wayward brother. 

Jaime felt dread settle deeply into his core as they watched the Red Keep rise, dominating the sky as they got closer. Rather than rejoice at the sight as they once would have, Jaime and his men felt nothing but weight settling on their shoulders. Qyburn turned in the entrance. 

"The Queen has summoned her small council, Ser Jaime. If you will follow me." He turned, expecting Jaime to follow and for that alone Jaime would run him through. Just not yet. He would wait until the perfect time. He might not have Tyrion's brain but he was a Lannister none the less. He followed quietly despite the armor and entered the small council room. Which consisted of Cersei, who sat regally in her dark clothes, her blonde hair beginning to grow back. She smiled softly at Jaime and he felt nothing. Normally a smile like that from her would pull at his wayward heart but now all he could se were the still burning bodies around the Sept. Qyburn, who was apparently her Hand and a monstrosity of a creature that was dressed like Clegane. The one Jaime could have sworn died from his injuries sustained during Tyrion's trail battle. And yet ...

Jaime sat down, keeping a wary eye on the creature that was once the Mountain. Once Qyburn had taken his seat, Cersei looked around at all of them. Jaime frowned. Aurane Waters had returned to claim the Master of Ships. According to whispers Jaime had heard, Braavos was furious over Cersei's dicission to end their payments. And considering the large sum the crown had borrowed from the Iron Bank, Jaime could not blame them. Five people now made up the small council. Cersei seemed to notice his confusion and launched into a explanation.

"This is the new small council." She explained. "Baelish has abandon us in support of the North." Qyburn snorted. 

"What could the North have to offer?" Qyburn asked. 

"Apparently quite a bit." Cersei answered, unrolling a parchment in front of her. "Though you fought so bravely, dear brother, to take back the Riverlands, the Northerners have taken it. My spies were not able to gather much. The Twins were taken first, by a small Northern force that was some how able to get inside the walls and dispatch the useless Frey and all of his men." Jaime ground his teeth. The Riverlands had been hard won by he and his men. To be told that a meager Northern force was able to take the Twin, thus taking back the Riverlands made Jaime's blood boil while at the same time he had acknowledge the might of whom ever lead the Northern army. 

"So why wouild Baelish defect? You offered him many things." Aurane Waters asked. Jaime barely bit back his snort. Offers and promises that Cersei never intended to fulfill. Baelish knew that. 

"Because the North gave him the Twins, with a Frey wife." Cersei ground out, growing tired of the banter. Silence decesnded in the room. Even Jaime was shocked. That was a mighty gift to give Baelish, of all people. 

"Who else is with the North?" Jaime asked. He had a feeling he already knew. 

"The Eyrie has joined them as well, or so my spies say." Cersei's eyes danced dispassionately down the large scroll. "Apparently Ned Stark's bastard is not a bastard after all. According to the new claims, he is the true born son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Born in the Tower of Joy during the War." Jaime was stunned. 

"Why would he lie?" Qyburn asked. 

"Because Robert had sworn a blood vendetta against the Targaryen line. He swore he would see all of them bloodied and dead on the ground." Cersei said. 

"And Eddard Stark lived and died for his honor." Jaime mused more to himself than anyone else. Cersei leveled her brother with a deathly glare. It was a look Jaime had never gotten from his sweet sister before and it sent a chill racing thorough his veins. Quarrelling broke out in the small room between what was left of the small council but Jaime didn't utter a word. He sat there, staring dumbly at his once sweet sister, whose eyes were beginning to take on the same insane gleam that another ruler once had. 

'Burn them all,' the voice whispered through his mind and suddenly Jaime became very scared, both for his sister and for Westeros. 

"SILENCE!!" Cersei's voice rang above the rest and Jaime barely suppressed his flinch. There was an edge of hysteria in her voice that had not ever been there before. The room feel into a stunned silence. Cersei had not raised her voice that way, ever. Her cold eyes searched each face until they broke the contact. Only Jaime didn't shy away from her glare. "Leave me. I will decide what to do after I am crowned." There is was again, the mania, the mad edge to her words. Jaime felt his gut clench in a way it had not in many, many years. 

"The coronation is on schedule for tomorrow afternoon my Queen," Qyburn bowed deeply to her before fleeing her gaze. Jaime felt himself slowly rise. He couldn't bring himself to say anything to her as he left the room, hearing the soft click of the door latch behind him. She had not even risen out of her chair. Jaime felt a growing unease in his mind.

Jaime made his way to his chambers mostly in a daze. He had known his sister was dangerous, had seen it from the very beginning in her arrogance. It was the part of her he had loved, first. But now, without their children to keep her in check ... he shivered. Jaime stood at his window that over looked the area of destruction around what was the Sept. He held a rare goblet of wine in his hand and stared out into the dark, feeling the first chill of Winter's approach. What was he going to do?

***  
Cersei stood in her chambers, looking over the gown she planned to wear tomorrow and all the jewelry she had picked. The goblet of wine in her hand forgotten as her mind drifted back to a time of summer when she was just the princess of Casterly Rock. After her bastard dwarf of a brother had taken her mother from her. Before she had seen Jaime as anything other than her beloved brother. Before Robert's rebellion, when she was promised to a Prince. A Prince of Dragon's blood. 

~The woods around Casterly Rock were thick with life and its sounds surrounded the two young girls as they walked. One the princess of the Lannister house, full of childhood arrogance and the esteem of someone who had never been told no in her life. Her long blonde curls where part of her inheritance, as well as her milky white skin, and emerald green eyes. The other a rather plain looking brown haired girl that Cersei loved to torment and boss around. The loud caw of a bird startled Melara, who jumped and placed a delicate hand over her heart. 

"We shouldn't be out here alone." Murmured Melara. Cersei spun on her, defiance in her eyes. 

"Why not?" Cersei demanded. Melara looked uncomfortable as she galnced around. 

"If your father--" She began but Cersei waved her concerns away.

"He'll never know we're gone." Cersei insisted, turning back around. She wanted to know her future and rumor around the Rock was the Maegi could tell it to her.

"But if he finds out..." Melara insisted, following after Cersei. 

"You don't need to be afraid of my father." Cersei stated. In truth, Melara needed to worry but Cersei didn't. And that was all that really mattered to Cersei. The girls continued to walk through the forest as it grew impossibly thicker. 

"Are you sure?" Melara asked but Cersei had spotted their destination. She felt a smile cruve her lips. 

"Yes." But it was a lie. Melara came up beside Cersei and she could practically feel Melara's fear seeping out of every pore. Cersei couldn't believe that her father was considering allowing the coward to marry Jaime. He could do so much better, she thought. But Melara served her purposes, Cersei mused. 

"We shouldn't go in." Melara tugged on Cersei's hand to try and make her head back to the castle. 

"Of course we should." Cersei half dragged Melara forward as they pushed into the dense roots that lay over the cavern's enterence. Their entry was nearly noiseless but when an insect buzzed by Melara's head, she let out a soft shriek. That was when a woman launched out of the bed in the back of the cavern. 

"Get out." The voice that could have been female said. "Get out!" It shouted. 

"Let's go!" Melara tried to grab Cersei's shoulder. But Cersei pushed forward. 

"No." Stopped to stand in front what was assuredly a woman. The piercing yellow eyes unnerved Cersei. Not that she would ever admit it.

"Listen to your friend." The voice was husky with an accent the girls didn't know, and Cersei could imagine it casting spells like people claimed. 

"They said that you were terrifying with cat's teeth and three eyes." Cersei looked at the striking features of the woman in front of her. Though her eyes were odd, the rest of her seemed quite plain. Her skin was smooth and olive in complexion, much like the Dorneish men Cersei had seen. Her pale hair was tied back carefully but it seemed a mess. Even her teeth were smooth and white. "You're not terrifying. You're boring." The woman tilited her head in a very feline nature, regarding Cersei.

"You don't know what I am." The witch stayed where she was, but if the feeling crawling up Cersei's spine was any indictation, she was no less dangerous.

"I know you're a witch and you can see the future." Cersei stated with all the arrogance of a Lord's daughter. "Tell me mine." She demanded. 

"Everyone wants to know their future, until they know their future." Maegi narrowed her eyes on the two girls in front of her. Cersei narrowed her own eyes on the witch who was not giving her what she wanted. 

"This is my father's land. My land." Cersei's voice was harsh as she stood over the witch, who had not bothered to stand up. "Tell me my future or I'll have your two boring eyes gouged out of your head." The witch laughed softly and reached under the pillow her head had been on, never taking her yellow eyes off Cersei. Melara took another step back, uttering a soft gasp as the Maegi withdrew a knife. It glittered in the firelight of the cavern. With a lightening quick move, she flipped the blade handle first to Cersei. 

"Your blood." She whispered. "Give me a taste." She clarified when Cersei frowned at her. For a moment there was a flash of indecision in the girl's eyes. And for that moment, Maegi thought she would actually heed the warning. But the girl's eyes hardened and she drew the sharp Valyrian blade down her thumb, emitting a quiet whimper as the blade sliced easily through her soft skin. Maegi's hand flashed out in a startling move and yanked the girl closer to her. The blade hit the ground of the cavern with a soft thud. Maegi looked into the girl's eyes and drew the thumb into her mouth, sucking gently. Cersei's mouth opened in a soft gasp as feelings she had never had before shot through her body. 

Though Maegi's eyes never left Cersei, the explosion that rushed across her tongue at the taste of the young Lady's blood took her mind with it. The copper taste was nothing compared to the visions that flashed across her mind's eyes. She felt a wicked smile curve her lips as the child's future played out in a matter of seconds. Maegi looked at the blonde child, blood still on her teeth. 

"Three questions you get." She dropped Cersei's hand and looked up into her triumphant glare. "You won't like the answers."

"I've been promised to the prince." She said with confidence. "When will we marry?" 

"You will never wed the prince." Maegi said, watching the flash of anger in the girl's eyes "You will wed the king." 

"But I will be queen?" Cersei couldn't keep the smile from her face. 

"Oh, yes. You'll be queen." Maegi was relishing the child's assumptions. "For a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear." Cersei's ego faltered. 

"W-will the king and I have children?" She asked, her confidence beginning to wane. Maegi's cruel smile widened, blood marring her white teeth. 

"No." She watched the confusion flit across the child's face. "The king will have 20 children and you will have three." 

"That doesn't make sense." Cersei whinned. Maegi smiled, the attraction between the twins was still in the innocent childhood phase. But that would not last for long. 

"Gold will be their crowns." Maegi couldn't stop the cackle that escaped her lips. "Gold their shrouds." The fear fully entered Cersei's face as her mind registered the witch's words. 

"Come on!" Cried Melara, grabbing Cersei's hand and pulling her toward the door. "We have to go!" Maegi's laughed grew and echoed in the cavern.

"We have to go! Cersei!" Melara pulled desperately on Cersei's arm. But her friend seemed to be frozen in either fear or fury. 

"And when your tears have drowned you," Maegi's voice had taken on an other worldly quality "The valonqar shall wrap hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." Cersei finally allowed Melara to pull her from the cavern, fear racing through her blood as she thought of the dwarf that had taken her mother from her four years hence. ~ 

Cersei swallowed her goblet of wine in one as she looked out over the ocean and the coming winter storm from the North. Her Death was out there, making its way to her. She should have listened to Melara all those years ago. She should not have asked for her future nor should the witch have told her what she had. Cersei's free hand covered her bare throat as a winter wind burst through King's Landing. Winter was coming.


	5. Of Crowns and Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! It is such a joy to be back in writer mode! Here is another chapter, dear readers. I brought a character back here that I had not wanted to die, simply because that character had so much potential! So forgive me for not matching the show perfectly. Enjoy readers! Another is in the works.

Chapter IV  
***MEEREEN***  
Daenerys stood on the balcony of her chambers, looking out over the Bay of Dragons. It was packed with ships. Her Armada, as it were. The setting sun glinted off what little water was visible. She could feel her dragons not far off. The two smaller ones enjoying the freedom. Daenerys felt a stab of guilt. She should never have locked them away. But her heart had ached with the loss of her son when that herder had laid the charred bones of his child at her feet, she had only one reaction. She understood now that it was in their nature. A nature she would have to adopt if she was to win against Cersei Lannister. 

Tyrion had been telling her tales of his relations, whether they were tall tales or not remained to be seen. She believed him when he told her that it was going to be a devasting battle. King's Landing would be destroyed. They had been in counsel all week while the ships were gathered and finished. Tyrion, Grey Worm, Missandei,Yara, Theon, and an absent Varys. Daenerys took a deep breath as she remembered the most recent counsel meeting.

"Dragonstone?" Grey Worm asked in his heavily accented voice. Daenerys smiled at he and Missandei.

"The ancestral island and original seat of power for the Targaryen line in Westeros." Tyrion clarified. "And our Queen's place of birth." All eyes found Daenerys, who had yet to say anything.

"Any word for Lord Varys?" She decided to ask instead. The story of her birth could wait for the journey to begin. Tyrion nodded, handing her the scroll. Her eyes danced over the words while Tyrion told everyone else what it said.

"Varys has made contact with the Martell's of Dorne, who have pledged us their ships and fighters." Tyrion was saying. "And the Tyrell house has also sworn fealty to you. There is some .... interesting news." Daenerys paused then, looking over the table at her Hand, who looked decidedly uncomfortable. She raised a single platinum brow but said no more. Tyrion swallowed, unsure of how to proceed.

"Oh for the gods sake, out with it!" Yara shouted and Daenerys stifled a laugh.

"Varys also sends word of two living Targaryen's yet is Westeros." Silence descended in the counsel room.

"Two?" Daenerys' voice was quiet yet her heart thundered in her ears. She had living family? Never had she thought it possible. Tyrion was nodding to her, all eyes dancing between the two. 

"Both your nephews." Tyrion was moving his wine goblet nervously. "Aegon has taken Storm's End, the home of the Baratheon's or what is left of their house. From what the whispers say, only Robert's bastards live. All other true borns are dead." Daenerys was nodding.

"Is it possible to offer one of these ... not true borns the seat in exchange for their alliance to us?" Missandei asked and it was Tyrion's turned to nodded and smile.

"Very good, Missandei. You have been paying attention, I see." A blush crawled up her delicate cheeks at Tyrion's compliment. "It is possible. Robert had dozens, thought only a handful escaped the slaughter Joffrey released upon them." Daenerys raised her eyebrow.

"Your nephew killed them?" She asked. Tyrion sighed in resignation but nodded.

"Joffrey did a great many foul thing while he sat on that throne, my Queen." Tyrion shivered in the heat, remembered cruelty in his mind.

"And the other Targaryen?" Theon asked.

"Ah, yes. He is someone I think you are quite familiar with, having grown up with him and the other Starl children." Tyrion enjoyed the look over confusion on the man's face. "Though he is only half Stark."

"Jon?" Theon had figured it out. "Jon Snow is a Targaryen? Impossible. He was Ned Stark's bastard. Conceived during the War." Daenerys looked at the man, who was more boy, it was only the second time she had heard any authority in his voice.

"Apparently not," Tyrion was very much enjoying this and Daenerys could see it plainly. "He is a Stark but his mother was Lyanna Stark. And his father was Rhaegar. He is a true born son." Daenerys felt a shock rock through her system. Three. There were three Targaryen's. 

"And what of them?" Grey Worm asked.

"Well, Aegon has laid his own claim upon the Iron Throne." Daenerys' snort escaped before she could stop it but Tyrion's amused glance told her he felt the same. "And Jon, well he has been crowned King in the North. According to Varys, there is much more to the story that he will tell us once we reach Dorne." 

"Another with a claim and an already King," Daenerys mused. "The North is secure?" She asked, her eyes dancing over the map that Tyrion had rolled out over the circular table.

"Indeed, my Queen." He stood, placing Dire Wolf heads along the boards. "Whispers have that the Riverlands and Vale have also joined with the North."

"That is well over half of Westeros." Yara exclaimed. 

"Apparently the Lannister rule has divided my lands." Daenerys said. "With the lands of Martell and Tyrell in rebellion and with us, the Storm lands under Aegon's control, it seems the Crown Lands are the lands we must conquer first." 

"The ships will all be ready by morning." Yara said, who had assumed the Master of Ships for the time being. Daenerys nodded, her eyes surveying the land of her birthright. 

"Tomorrow we set sail for Dorne," Daenerys stood then, followed by the members of her counsel. She had dismissed them for she had much to think about. Tyrion had remained to say one last thing.

"Jon is an honorable man, Daenerys." He only ever called her that in private. "He will always do what is best for his people."

"Even bend a knee?" Daenerys asked. Tyrion took a soft drink of the sweet wine.

"Especially bending a knee. The North has seen enough death and tyranny, if bending to you would spare his people more of that, he would do it without hesitation." Daenerys had nodded. Perhaps he could be a valuable ally after all. If what Tyrion had told her of his character, he didn't want a throne.

***WINTERFELL***  
Jon slipped out of Eilonwy's embrace early in the morning. At least he thought it was morning. With Winter in full swing, it was somewhat hard to tell. He regretted leaving her side, especially after the meeting of Lords and Ladies that evening. After everything they had done and been through for the good of the North, some still wanted him to make an alliance with his Aunt Daenerys, but alliances could be made without marriage from one ruler to another. So here he sat with a quill in his hand and a parchment on his desk. He took several deep breaths, focusing on his word very carefully. There was a part of him that wanted to wake Eilonwy and get her opinion but he knew what she would say.

"Listening to your heart, Jon." Her voice echoed softly in his head. Feeling her hand rest above his heart. "It knows the words." Jon closed his eyes, drawing on the calm Eilonwy brought to him. Once he felt centered he began.

"Daenerys Targaryen, rightful Queen of the Iron Throne," his letter begin. "I am Jon Targaryen Stark, King in the North. True born son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. I have an offer for you."

***KING'S LANDING***  
"Company halt!" Called out the Captian of the Guards voice. "Halt! Halt!" Could be heard echoing down the line as they each took their position. Creating a narrow passage that Cersei would walk through on her steady, lone walk to the Iron Throne. She emerged at the end of the hall, what was left of her citizens present for her crowning, Qyburn waited for her at the left of the Throne, her small crown waiting. Jaime and his men were present in the balconies, to guard agonist any attempts on her life. Not that there were many left to make an attempt. 

Cersei couldn't keep the smile off her face. She had paid a visit to the Septa before coming down here. Taking pleasure from the sobbing woman, in so many ways. Cersei had rediscovered a part of her ... tastes recently and was using the Septa to ... perfect them. The Mountain stood at the base of the stairs that lead to her Dias. She slowly ascended the smooth steps, not a fear or care in the world. She turned to the hall and sat in the Throne. Qyburn began to chant in the Old Languages while he held her crown aloft.

"I now proclaim Cersei of the House Lannister First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms." Auburn placed the crown on her head. "Long may she reign." He entoned the age old cry for crowned monarchs.

"Long may she reign." The crowd responded with les enthusiasm tan she would have liked but it would do. She didn't need anything from them. Jaime watched as Cersei was crowned Queen, a sick feeling settling into his stomach. His golden armor shown brightly as her eyes found his. There cold there shocked him. Thankfully he had practice schooling his features but his hand tightened on the blade at his side. Given to him this morning by Cersei. The second of the two blades made from the Stark ancestral blade after Ned Stark had been murdered. He had been somewhat surprised that she had no summonded him the night before, not that he could bring himself to touch her, let alone pleasure her.

There was no feast afterward like with usual coronations. Cersei simply nodded her dismissal and the throne room was cleared out. He watched as she whispered to Qyburn, who nodded and scurried off to met whatever wish she had. Jaime stayed with his battalion as one by one people came before Cersei to offer gifts, none asked her for anything. Wise citizens. Jaime mused. By the end of the day his back scream in protest from the heavy armor and stiff position. But as the sunset, Cersei stood and left the hall, not summoning her small counsel until the morning.

Jaime made his way to his chambers on swift and quiet feet. When he opened his chamber door, he was more than surprised to find a young woman sitting on his bed. Her loose clothing design gave away her occupation. Jaime felt his blood begin to heat.

"May I help you with that armor, Ser Jaime." It wasn't a question as she had sauntered up to him, her hands caressing his arm. Her long red hair was curled and styled to be appealing. Her face had minimally shades and highlights, her gown clasp between her generous breasts was designed so that if that clasp was removed, the silk dress would pool at her beautiful feet. She had already begun remove his armor. He placed his hand above hers, stopping her movement. Her emerald green eyes looked up at him, startled. 

"What is your name?" He asks, his fingers tracing over multiple scars her arms. There was something familiar about her. She visibly flinches as his fingers trace the scars left from Joffery's cross bow. Varys had seen to it that she had been "rescued" after Baelish had given her to Joffrey, to punish her for spying. 

"Ros," she replied. A rose blush coloring her cheeks. Jaime gently placed his hand on her cheek. 

"I appreciate the offer, Ros." He said gently, tilted her eyes to met his. "But I have no need of assistance." She visibly wilted under his hand. Jaime frowned at her as her mask cracked. He frowned at her, pain and fear in her eyes. 

"Ros?" He asked. He hadn't noticed the other scars until she had stepped back, the fire and candle light dancing over her skin. "What happened to you?" He took a step closer to her and she flinched. And suddenly it all made sense. Jaime sat roughly on the edge of his bed and looked at the vaunerable woman in front of him.

"Can we make a deal, Ros?" He asked, suddenly very wary. She looked rightfully suspicious. 

"I am listening." She said, her steel core showing. That was when he recognized her. She was the beauty from Winterfell. He smiled for real then, she was a familiar with Tyrion. Her brows drew down at his genuine smile.

"My protection, from whatever or whomever you fear," Ros was nodding, her eyes cautiously hopeful. "For your advise and company." She seemed to consider the deal and Jaime mused that he was becoming more and more like Tyrion. 

"But you are not interested in ..." her hands gently glided over her generous endowments. Jaime admitted he was tempted but not what he wanted.

"I need your intellect, dear Ros. Much like Tyrion." At the name of his brother, her face genuinely lifted, her true beauty shinning through. 

"Lord Tyrion was a kind and gentle man." Ros stated. Jaime nodded his agreement.

"I could use his advice right now actually, but I know he was rather fond of you and use to do more than ... entertain you." Jaime admitted and Ros smiled. It was not often that a client wanted her mind and not her body. But for his protection, she would gladly be his advisor. 

"Then, Ser Jaime, we have an accord." She held out her hand to him, which he gladly took. "At least let us get you out of that armor." Jaime smiled as he stood up and allowed Ros to take off his heavy armor as he began the length process of explaining the depth of his concerns. By the end, Ros had a thoughtful expression across her beautiful face. 

"Could you write to Lord Tyrion?" She asked a simple question and yet it gave Jaime's mind the jolt he needed. "I mean if he is truly with the Dragon Queen, and they are truly headed for Dorne. You could, in theory, write to him and it would intercept him." Her nimble hands worked on the knots in Jaime's shoulders. 

"Of course!" He felt almost like slapping himself on the forehead. He reached back and took her hand. "Ros, would you be ever so kind?" He motioned to the desk with parchment and ink. He has bristled when he first walked into the room. Everyone knew it was his sword, therefore his writing hand that had been lobbed off. Jaime suspected that it was his sister who had done that, she was not above a sharp well placed insult. Ros blushed delicately and Jaime wondered if she had trained herself to do that because it was very beautiful. Her dress swished around her as she walked to the desk and sat with all the regal grace of a high born woman. 

"What shall we say to him?" She asked and Jaime frowned as he tried to work out the word to say to his brother to convey his needs.

***MEEREEN***  
Daenerys heard the click of her boots on the plank as she walked up to the deck of her main ship. She had decided on the lead ship from the Iron Born fleet to be her lead vessel. It's grey sail replaced by a black one with a red three headed dragon. She stood in her black Targaryen armor that Tyrion had made for her. The pants felt strange on her legs with the flowing open skirt around her lower body. The breast plate looked like dragon scales, rubies dotting them. Her leather ride gloves had been oiled and hung on the belt at her waist. She and her small counsel would all be riding in the lead ship. According to Yara, the Broken Arm and Dorne's shores were a weeks travel across the Narrow Sea. Than they could sail around the Storm Lands and to Dragonstone, where Daenerys could plan her attack and lay siege to King's Landing. 

The plan, so far, was to isolate the Crown Lands by using The Reach. The Riverlands were secured by the Northerns, the Stormlands by Aegon, so they had heard. They had yet to receive a reply to Daenerys' letter. If he were in fact in Storm's End, perhaps a deal could be struck. Thought Daenerys thought I would take a show of five for her nephew to come to heel. That would, in effect, cut off any retreat Cersei had planned. She had cornered herself without even knowing it. Her back to the sea and Dragonstone and her front to the Riverlands, the Reach, and the Stormlands. None of which would be friendly to her cause. Yet thought it sounded like it would be an easy take over, Daenerys did not expect it to be. For she had experienced the desperation to which people cling to their titles.

"The winds are with us," came Yara's voice from not far behind her. Daenerys turned to see her counsel gathered behind her. She took a deep breath and turned toward the sea. She nodded once, Yara's commanding voice carried the order and the sails began to drop. Some still bore the Iron Born sigil of a Cracken but most bore the three headed dragon. As of to make their presence known, her three dragons swooped low enough to brush the crows nest of her ship as it set sail, leaving the Bay or Dragons and Meereen behind. Their cries filled the air as Daenerys and her fleet made their way to Westeros and her birthright. There was no telling what awaited them in Dorne but Daenerys knew that what was to come would be more blood. Blood and Fire.


	6. Of Queens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright readers, the first part of this chapter is rather ... brutal so if you don't want to read it, skip down until you see ***THE NARROW SEA*** and everything will be well. I have a better direction now that the trailer for S7 has come out. 
> 
> Enjoy! Questions, comments, constructive criticism always welcome

Chapter V  
***KING'S LANDING***  
Cersei entered her chambers after the ceremony to find one of her hand maidens fussing about her chambers. Cersei felt the wickedness rising in her as she watched to young, lithe body move. Not really thinking about what she was doing, Cersei closed her chamber door and slid the lock home.

Maehg spin around at the sound of a lock clicking into place, her hand over her fluttering heart. But all she saw was the Queen Regent. 

"Apologies, my Queen." Maehg curtsied low. "I did not hear you enter. Can I draw you a bath, or pour your wine?" She asked with practiced persuasion. Maehg had been born into a life of servitude yet as one of the Queen's handmaidens, she was treated far better. Or so she thought.

"Tell me, Maehg. Do you still carry your maidenhead?" The girl looked up at Cersei, clearly startled. 

"I ..." she began.

"Has anyone here forced themselves on you? Pulled you into dark corners and forced you to preform on them?" The Queen's questions had a fever behind it that made Maehg's little heart beat a frantic rhythm as much as her questions did.

"N...n...no, my Queen." She stammered, watching Cersei make her way around the chamber to the stand beside the bed. Cersei's fingers traced up the ornate carvings of roaring lions on the posts. 

"Take off you dress." The order startled Maehg, the girl's eye had gone wide. Cersei turned around to face the girl, detesting have to repeat her orders. Apparently her gaze jump started the girl's brain because trembling fingers began unclasping the gold clips that ran the side of her gown. Cersei, knowing Maehg would not dare run, had turned around to remove some things for her bedside stand. She hadn't heard sobs yet, that was good. The only sobs she like to hear were the Septa's.

"When your are naked, lay across the bed." Cersei instructed, a heady sense of power coming over her. She heard the sheets rustle as the girl did as she was told. Cersei turned to look at the beautiful girl. Her hair was long and curled, a light brown color that reminded her of someone else. Her green eyes were watching Cersei with fear. Cersei took a deep breath in and could swear she scent that fear. 

"I was once like you." Cersei began, gently taking the girl's wrist, caressing the soft skin of her inner wrist. "Young and beautiful." She gently kissed that skin before wrapping a silk cord around it. Goose bumps erupted across her body.

"You are still young and beautiful, my Queen." The girl whispered. Cersei smiled as she tied the cord around the first post. Cersei made a soft cooing sound, touching the girl's cheek, tracing the high regal line, down her jaw and across her collar bone. Maehg had been well cared for and feed. She was plump in all the right places. Cersei moved to her foot, kissing the soft skin of her inner ankle before wrapping the cord around it and tying it to the lower post. 

"I was a maiden, given to a brute of a King, who had no care for me." She walked over to Maehg's other ankle, repeating the kiss before tying it down. "He claimed me as his war prize, given to him by my father." Maehg began to tremble in fear. Surely the Queen wouldn't? She questioned. But from the look in the Queen's eyes she was not so sure anymore.

Cersei restrained the last limb, her own prize had begun to tremble. Cersei stoked the fire that had been built, bringing it to a roar as she began to disrobe. She pulled out one contraption she had been designing and using on herself while the Septa was violated by the Mountain. The girl's eye grew wide as she took in what Cersei was doing.

"Pl.... plea...please, my Queen." She began. Cersei made a hushing sound, like she was soothing an upset child.

"No begging, or pleading." She walked silently toward the bed, crawling up Maehg's shaking form. "No whimpering or whining." Cersei began laying kisses along the girl's trembling inner thigh. Maehg let out a chocked sound as Cersei made her way up.

"I will care for your pleasure. As mine was never care for by my regent." She blew a hot breath across Maehg's womanly flower, the girl jerked against the restraints but didn't utter a sound. "And if you do as you are told, I will be more gentle with you than Robert ever was with me." With that Cersei buried her face in Maehg's trimmed curls, shoving her fibers into the girl's tightness. Maehg arched away from the assault but didn't make a sound. She feared what Cersei would do.

Cersei felt the soft, tender barrier of the girl's maidenhead and felt a thrill of ownership. She would claim this girl, as is her right as Queen. She smiled, biting down harder on the girl's nub. She arched and tried to scramble away but the restrains kept her from going far, still she didn't utter a sound. Good girl. Cersei thought to herself, hooking her fingers to rub against the girl's inner walls. Cersei moved up her body, biting the tender flesh, leaving angry marks along the length of her body. The contraption harnessed to her body dragged along Maehg's thigh, causing the girl to tremble harder. 

Cersei looked down at the girl, who's face was shining with fear and confusion at the sensations that were undoubtedly racing through her body. Cersei leaned down on her forearms, aligning herself with the girl's flower. Cersei leaned down closer to the girl's ear as she felt her tense at the feeling of the smooth wood at her entrance.

"It will go better if you relax," And with that she brutally thrust fully into the girl, whose body arched up against Cersei as her jaw clenched to keep the sounds from escaping. Tears streamed down her face as Cersei took pleasure in a way she had never dreamed possible.

***THE NARROW SEA***  
Daenerys stood on the bow of her flag ship, feeling the push and pull of the sea under them. The waves gently lapped the side of the ship. She turned, glancing over her shoulder and watched as Meereen seemed disappeared under the sea and the setting sun.

"Strange, isn't it?" A now familiar husky female voice asked from beside her. Daenerys turned to look at Yara, raising a single eyebrow. "Watching your home dissolve into the sea." 

"I may have ruled Meereen, but it was not my home." Daenerys said softly. Yara snorted beside her. 

"Where is home for you?" She asked and Daenerys marveled at how this woman talked to her. Like an equal. She wasn't use to it but she found she liked it. She ideally wondered if this Jon Targaryen-Stark would talk to her the same way. 

"I'm not sure." Daenerys wasn't sure why she was honest with the Salt Queen, but she continued anyway. "All my life, my brother wanted to return to Westeros. He sold me to a great Dothraki Khal as a means to an end. I was nothing more to him than a bartering chip."

"Sounds like a fucking asshole." Yara stated simply, leaning against the railing and looking toward Westeros. Daenerys let out a full bellies laugh. Yara couldn't keep the smile from her face as she turned to look at the Dragon Queen. "What happened to him?" 

"My husband poured liquid gold over his head." Daenerys recalled the screams of her brother as he died. She felt nothing now, just like she did then. "He was not the Dragon." 

"But you are." It wasn't a question from Yara. Daenerys simply nodded. 

"I am many things." Yara took the soft hand of Daenerys in her own rough hands. Daenerys didn't pull away, she just simply waited to see what the Salt Queen would do. 

"I bet you are." Yara said no more, just traced the soft lines of Daenerys' palm and Daenerys couldn't stop the shivers that raced up her arm. 

"When will we reach Dorne?" She asked, not sure of this feeling racing up her spine. 

"By the sun rise, Dorne will be in view. Essos and Westeros are not so far apart. It will take us three days to reach their shores." Yara expressed, looking out over the water that looked like it was on fire and the sky that was darkening with night. 

"And then, my Master of Ships?" Daenerys couldn't stop to tease and Yara chuckled. 

"The journey to Dragonstone, of that is were we are going will take two weeks," she stated.

"Why two weeks?" Daenerys wondered.

"Because the Lannisters still have a meager fleet that protects Black Water Bay, we need to approach Dragonstone from either the Far East or North. It would take less time to sail by and come around from the North but we do not know if the Eyrie is ... friendly." Yara explained and Daenerys marveled at her knowledge of the seas. This was definitely was a woman she wanted on her side. 

"I suspect that is something we must find out." Daenerys said, watching as Yara interlaced their fingers. "We need to know where our enemies are." 

"I suspect that Varys is already on that, my Queen." Tyrion emerged from the shadows of the captain's cabin that housed both Yara and Daenerys since it had two rooms. Tyrion had his usually goblet of wine in his hand. "You know, on my last crossing I was in a box. It is actually quite a pleasant experience this time." He took a sip of his wine and eyed the two women. 

"Please, continue Hand of the Queen." Yara said, interested in how this dwarf played the game. 

"Well, Varys' job was to find us allies and find the positions of our enemies. I am hoping he has a full report for us when we get to Sunspear." Tyrion looked up at the stars that were occasionally blocked out by massive black shapes. He still marveled at the dragons, who were growing daily. He had witnessed Drogon snatch a whale out of the water earlier that day and the three flew off to feast. 

"Viserion seems to be fond of you." Daenerys remarked, knowing what Tyrion was watching in the night sky. Tyrion looked at her oddly but swallowed thickly. 

"I am sure I look like a tasty appetizer to him." Tyrion said with little sarcasm. Yara and Daenerys both let out throaty laughs.

"Not like that." Daenerys said, knowing what her dragons felt. "And Viserion is a girl." She recalled the first meeting after they had been freed from the confines of the temple. The beautiful white and gold dragon had nudged against Tyrion, knocking the terrified man over. Viserion had proceeded to sniff every inch of Tyrion while emitting what could only be call a purr. He hadn't understood but Daenerys did.  
Tyrion looked at her, clearly startled. 

"Viserion is a girl?" He asked and Daenerys nodded. "And the others?" 

"Drogon and Rhaegal are both males." She confirmed. Though Drogon was the alpha of their pride or Weyr, both Rhaegal and Viserion followed his lead and he followed hers. 

"Will their be more dragons?" Yara asked, also watching the shadows blocking out the stars. Daenerys shrugged delicately. 

"Perhaps," was all she said but she smiled at the thought.

***DRAGONSTONE***  
A single figure cloaked in rich reds stood atop to high walls of Dragonstone, the ancestral seat of power for House Targaryen. Blue eyes constantly scanned the horizon for a sign that arrival was imminent. The Dtahon Queen would find open gates when she arrived and the Great War would begin.


	7. Of Arrivals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the length of time between updates! Fear not, I will finish this fic. But planning an invasion and war take serious dedication! Here is a taste of things to come, dear readers! Enjoy!

Chapter VI

***DORNE***  
Elira Sand sat quietly with Olenna and Varys, a pleasurable silence between them as they read the correspondence of the lands. The Targaryen should be here any day and they wished to be ready to discuss the plan. The news from King's Landing was disturbing, as was the news from Storm's End. The only place that was in peace was the North and their allies. Curiously a letter had arrived a day ago, addressed to Daenerys sealed with a Dire Wolf's head over laying a Three Headed Dragon. Varys knew to whom that seal belonged but how he knew send it here. Interesting. Their own thoughts interrupted by the blare of a horn. A single long note echoed across the palace. The three looked at the other.

"She arrives." Elira stated and they each stood, walking calmly to the balcony that over looked the bay. Black spots dotted the horizon as fair as the eye could see. The lead ship had just landed and the pale shinning hair of the Dragon Queen could be seen even from their height. 

Daenerys looked around the land that was shockingly similar to Essos. She knew from her studies that Winter rarely touched this part of Westeros but if Tyrion was to be believed, all of Westeros would be covered in snow before Summer came again. If Daenerys was honest, she was not fond of boats. The weather had been a bit rough the previous day and though Yara had remedies for seasickness, Daenerys didn't like the feeling of being tossed about. She glanced up to see three figures looking down at them. Her dragons flew over head, blocking out the sun until they passed. Daenerys could feel their enthusiasm, but she passed a quick order to Drogon. No hunting people. Living stock, wild life, even sea life was fine but people would have to wait until the battles began. She felt the grumble along their connection but her dragons would bow to her wishes. 

She walked along the wooden planks, Grey Worm, Missandei,Yara, Theon, and Tyrion walked in front of a large group of Unsullied. The horses of the Dothraki could be heard across the bay. They smelled land and wanted to roam free. Daenerys had spoken to the leaders of the Screamers and they had decided that the horses and men could use a few days break on dry land to run their horses. They were to set up a camp just outside the walls of Sunspear. Food and freedom under a sky similar to their own. But, and she had made it very clear, no killing. There would be plenty of blood for a century soon enough. Unless blood shed did nothing for them. 

Guards with dark skin, dressed in reds and golds were waiting at the base of the castle to show them up. As tired as she surely was, Daenerys knew planning had to begin immediately. Cersei surely knew she was on her way. Three figures stood around a large round table that held a map of Westeros as they entered the strategic room, or whatever the Dornish called it. The only one Daenerys knew was her own Master of Whispers. Varys executed a perfect bow as she entered the room.

"My Queen, may I present Elira Sand, ruler or Dorne." The dark woman with curly black hair and eyes of fire inclined her head as Varys gestured to her. "And Lady Olenna Tyrell of Highgarden." The old woman simply looked Daenerys over and nodded her head. Daenerys couldn't shake the feeling that she had just been measured. 

"Ladies," Tyrion stepped around Daenerys, making for the wine. He poured himself a healthy cup and said, "May I present Queen Daenerys Stormborn, first of her name, Queen of ..." 

"Oh do pipe down, dwarf." The old woman's voice cracked like a whip. Daenerys simply raised an eyebrow. "We know her name and the many titles she has gathered." Grey Worm tensed beside Daenerys but she held her hand out, keeping him. 

"Lady Olenna, was it?" Daenerys asked, walking softly to the table. The old woman simply nodded. "You will use respect when you address my Hand." Her command was softly spoken but none there would mistake her meaning. Olenna cracked a rare smile.

"You've got fire, young Queen." Her cane cracked against the ground. "You will need to hold on to it." 

"Come, we have much to discuss." Varys said as the members of Daenerys' small council took their seats.Elira had been curiously silent, though her eyes never leaving Tyrion. It was for him that her beloved had died but she had taken her vengeance out of the Lannister line. Now she couldn't help but wonder what he would take from her. 

"What news, good Varys?" Tyrion entonded to his dear friend, obvious to Elira's musings. Varys bowed slightly in acknowledgment.

"I am afraid the news is rather mixed." He began with the happenings of King's Landing. Wide eyes hung on his every word of the report. If Daenerys had been concerned about her growing madness, it was nothing in comparison to the display Cersei had given, the devastation she had wreaked. That report ended with a sealed letter passing to Tyrion. He tucked it away to read later, it was seal with an emblem he thought to never see again. 

"And my nephews?" Daenerys asked. 

"Aegon has taken the Stormlands and holds them with a meager force. I feel it is there that we should start. Take the entire fleet into Shipbreaker Bay and around the costs of the Stormlands. Aegon had laid his own claim upon the Iron Throne but I believe with a show of your forces he could be made to come to heal." Varys was wise indeed but he knew nothing of the tenacity of the Targaryen line if he thought a simple show of force was going to be enough to discourage him. He was older than she by a few months and truly believed he had a right, she would have to make him a generous offer or dire threat. She saw Tyrion watching her closely, knowing his mind was working the same way. 

"And the other?" She simply asked. Varys produced a folded letter. 

"This rather curious parcel arrived with a Winterfell Raven just as your ships were spotted on the horizon." Daenerys took the thick paper and looked at the seal. It was a deep black wax and pressed into it was a sigil she knew, topped by a great wolf head. Tyrion had come to stand close by. Daenerys popped the seal and began to read the letter, a single eyebrow the only indication of her thoughts. The tense silence was broken by Tyrion's short bark of laughter that turned into a full bellies, rolling laughter.

"The man has some serious balls!" He toasted to Jon and took a swig.

"Pray tell, what does it say?" Olenna asked. The North had been secured not long ago when a Northern force, lead by the mysterious Lady of the North took the Twins and soon after Riverrun, reinstating the Tully line who had pledged fealty to the Starks of Winterfell. 

"My nephew, Jon Targaryen Stark wishes to bid me welcome to Westeros and offers the Norths support of my claim. With conditions." A few shocked in takes of breath were heard. "He wishes that I recognize the North's freedom and independence. He claims that the Great Battle has ended and all the North wishes for is peace." There was silence besides the deep chuckle of Tyrion.

"With the North'a support, this war could take less time, less resources and money. Both the River lands and the Eyrie have pledged fealty to this King in the North." Olenna was saying, her eyes bored into Tyrion. "Your sister has done a fine job of dividing Westeros. Making her loss all the more sure." Tyrion snorted.

"Yes, my sweet sister has always had a problem planning for the future. She is very much in the bow and brute show of force." He agreed, the wine suddenly tasting rather sour. He swallowed thickly and put his goblet down. 

"So what do we do?" Daenerys wasn't sure who asked the question but it was the one on everyone's mind. She could see the wheels in Tyrion's head turned as his eyes danced over the map of Westeros laid before them. 

"With the Queen, I will write a response to the King in the North but we need more information. I want the full tale of what has been happening in the North, if you please Lord Varys. I would like this information before we respond to his offer. Jon is and always has been honorable and now he will want what is best for his people." Tyrion scratched his thick beard as the wheels continued to turn. "Next I believe going to the Stormlands and bringing them into the fold is vital. With an agreement with the North and the forces of Aegon with us, it will only leave the Crown Lands and Casterly Rock that will need to be taken." Yara cleared her throat then to remind Tyrion that one more area needed to taken. He chuckled and turned to Yara.

"Don't worry Master of Ships, I have not forgotten about your homeland. But we must solidify the main land first before we can send the forces needed to the Iron Island to retake your thrown." For not the first time, Daenerys was thankful for her Hand. He had the mind for this game and she had the forces. Together they made a frightful power. 

"I would like the rest of my force be able to feel the land beneath their feet. I would like to have a solid plan by the end of the week. We will meet again tomorrow." Daenerys stood eloquently and all other rose. 

"My daughters will show all of you to your quarters." Elira mentioned and several fearsome looking young women entered the room. Olenna let out a snort but said no more. "Welcome home, your Grace." She bowed her head slightly and Daenerys smiled before turning to follow one young woman to their quarters. Daenerys and her small counsel were all roomed in close proximity, her balcony over looked the sea and a rather large cliff. She could feel her dragons had found a cave not far below where she stood and the three were enjoying their hunting trip out over the ocean. She had not had time before a soft knock sounded on her door. She turned to find Tyrion holding two letters in his hands. A pale look upon his face. Daenerys felt worry vault through her system. 

"My Queen," he nodded and closed the door behind him self. 

"What is it?" She asked, sitting down next to the stunned Hand. 

"I have a letter from King's Landing." Daenerys raised an eyebrow, a gesture she seemed to be doing a lot lately. "From my brother, Jaime." Daenerys felt herself bristle a bit. Jaime was the head of the King's Guard and had murdered her father. She hadn't known he was still alive or what she wanted to do now that she knew he was. She knew Tyrion was very fond of this brother. A brother who had done everything in his power to protect Tyrion while his own sister had attempted to have him killed. 

"And what does it say?" She asked, pouring some wine. Tyrion took a health swig before continuing.

"It is a pledge, to you." Daenerys felt her fingers go numb. "And it is the tale of what has transpired since my departure. It seems my brother wishes to makes amends. With us both." Tyrion handed Daenerys the second piece of paper. She glanced over it in confusion. 

"What is this?" She asked, not understanding the lines.

"It is the complete layout of the Red Keep." And Daenerys couldn't stop her mouth from dropping open. 

"What?" She asked, stunned beyond any other word.

"My brother explains his decision to ... kill your father. The Mad King was going to burn King's Landing to the ground with Wild Fire, every man, women, and child with it." Daenerys felt decidedly sick at the madness of her heritage and could in that light forgive Jaime for doing what he had done. If it were true, that is. "And now my sister has done what he killed his last king for trying to do. He wishes it to end. He says that he his tired of war and politics. He wants peace but can not see it as long as a Lannister sits upon the throne." 

"Do you believe him?" Daenerys asked and watched the thoughts and emotions dance across his face. 

"My brother has had only one set of skills his entire life. War and swordplay. But after the loss of his sword hand, things changed for him." Tyrion's finger absently traced the seal. "For my brother the world is no longer the black and white of war or peace. I think if he is offering us an alliance, he means it." Daenerys nodded. She believed in Tyrion and that was all that mattered right now. 

"And of the North?" She asked, watching as Tyrion smiled. 

"You know what I have said about Jon is entirely true. He will do what is best for his people. However, Jaime has mentioned a rather mysterious figure that I would like to know more about before I completely form my opinion of the North. Someone who could our greatest ally or our worst enemy." Tyrion's thoughts turning to a certain Northerner that was always deep in the knowledge of the world. He had a letter to write and send before the night was out. 

"And who is that?" She inquired. 

"The Lady of the North."


End file.
